“She’s on her way,” the man purred, tilting his head with the utmost of grace. “It didn’t take long for her to learn where you were.”
Who was on her way? This woman?
He tried to remember her. Knew he must. She was important somehow.
The man came closer, stopping inches from Casimir’s face. His lips formed a serpentine smile. Shadows inched their way from the man and writhed around him, the man commanding them with no effort as they crawled toward Casimir.
But who was the woman?
“I think I’ll make you watch.” The shadows darkened the space even further, the torches now a haze in the distance. “When we drain her blood to bring the rest of our armies over.”
Drain whose blood? Who was she?Who was the woman?He repeated it in his head.Remember her. You must remember.
“Your fear will taste delicious as you watch your soulbond die right in front of you.”
Soulbond? Was the woman his soulbond? Yes. That’s who she was.
An image came to him. A flash of her delicate freckled face. Two palms sliced with a dagger, joining. A spoken prayer. Shimmering threads weaving together.
His love. His Miraêl Li’ra.
Ava.
1
“You must calm down,” Raine urged as Ava paced in front of the campfire, her hands clenched, nails digging into her palms with the fae strength she was still adjusting to. “We’ll be there tomorrow.”
They’d been traveling for days. But even pushing themselves as hard as they could manage, it was taking much too long. Ava needed to get to the daemon campnow. Had to free Casimir. He was still alive, she was sure of it. Once they’d accepted and completed the soulbond, they were tied to one another, as if they could feel each other’s pain and sorrow.
But he was gravely injured, and every so often there was a tug deep within her soul, as if urging her to hurry before he succumbed to his wounds. To the torture she tried not to picture, but knew he was being put through. Like what she’d gone through herself.
Ava wanted to peel off her skin and scream until her lungs were raw. To rage and destroy and wreck everything around her. To raze the forest and rip the moon from the sky, bathing the world in darkness. Because her light was missing. Her light was hurt and scared and barely hanging on.
She turned to her friend, trying to contain her tears. “I can’t calm down.” Her voice came out in hardly a whisper.
It was all she could do to control her magic. A wild and feral beast, urging to be released. But she was going to save it. She was going to preserve every last drop so when she unleashed herself on their enemies—when she sought her vengeance for what they’d put her love through—she could savor their screams as she freed the monster within. The monster she wouldn’t hesitate to become if that was what it took to save him.
Because he had saved her too. In so many ways.
Raine approached, his platinum hair shimmering in the moonlight. He grasped her face and forced her to look at him, blinking back his own tears. “Wewillget him back. I promise you.”
Raine hadn’t cracked one joke since learning of Casimir’s capture. No teasing, no quips. He’d gone into his own dark place of anger, of deadly calm. Of fear for his childhood best friend’s fate.
They’d left their kingdom with a significant company of soldiers. Pax, Quinn and Jorrar had come along, though they were currently asleep in their tents. Even Maeryn, the general of Igneothenia’s armies, had joined, insisting she wanted to help. To aid in the rescue of the earth kingdom’s general.
Their camp was set up in a grove of white-barked trees, less than a day’s journey from the daemon army. Tents sat in a circle around the leftover embers of their campfire. Luna dozed beneath a nearby tree next to Raine’s wolf, Sabriel, and Quinn’s ebony panther, Bastien. Jorrar’s owl hooted in the boughs as their sentry, watching for danger.
Ava met Raine’s eyes and couldn’t hold it in any longer. Letting the tears fall in earnest, her shoulders shook as sobs racked her body. Raine pulled her into a hug, wrapped his arms around her, and placed a kiss on the top of her head. She letherself be steadied by his strength as they held each other, silently crying for their friend.
For her love.
“You need to get some rest,” Raine whispered, rubbing her back.
“I won’t be able to sleep.” She pulled away and wiped her cheeks.
Raine tugged her down to sit, leaning against a log as they stared at the fire. In silence, he put his arm around her and she laid her head on his shoulder, relieved to have her best friend by her side. Ava lost herself in the glow of the coals, the oranges and yellows rippling in the night as she tried not to picture what they were doing to Casimir in this very moment. Shoving away her own traumas that had occurred within that same camp, she prepared herself for what they would have to do tomorrow.
Allowing the cool breeze to caress her skin, she took a steadying breath.
